The Editor, Amandala,
Sir,
Lawyers. Honorable Senator Bradley erred (I heard H. Bradley rapping at the George Price Center last Tuesday night, courtesy of Plus TV Belmopan) in discussing the new/old kid in town – the elected Senate – when he said that if Honorable Said Musa and the PUP had accepted the recommendations of the Political Reform Commission re-the Senate; that the modern PUP would have claimed a huge majority of the senators. In 1998 the PUP won 26 out of 29, about 90% of the seats; and their 22-7 victory in 2003 translated to a little over 75% of the chairs. But the Political Reform Commission’s recommendation was based on percentage of votes won, not seats!
Honorable Senator Bradley, please, percentage of votes and percentage of seats are two entirely different species of fish! You can’t congratulate the Prime Minister for rejecting a formula that at best would have given his party ONE more senator than the Opposition, and most likely would have worked out even.
I respect the Prime Minister’s decision to disagree with the Commission, but definitely not for the reason forwarded by Honorable Senator Bradley. According to the paper I have, the recommendation was for 13 seats, TWO from each district, and ONE to be chosen by the Governor General. To my reasoning, effectively that would translate to 6 senators for the Red and 6 for the Blue in most years. So, the balance of power in that toothless but necessary body would have resided with the Governor General’s choice…MEANING Her majesty the QUEEN of England! To be perfectly honest the paper says that the GG’s Senator would be “representing interests outside the major parties based on the recommendation of the Belize Advisory Council.” Still, his/her appointment would come courtesy of the Queen.
For further explanation the “reform” proposed that there would be 100 points. Four points would go to the GG, for to choose (1) senator, leaving 96 points to be fought for by the political parties. For each 8 points won, a party would claim a senator. Thus there would be (12) senate seats available for the political parties.
In the calculations, if a party claimed 52% of the popular vote (a very good year for any political party), that party would claim 50 points out of the available 96, OR 6.25 senators. Being that not even Solomon can divide a human being, the FRACTION…0.25 would go to what they call the majority holder. If majority holder means the one who has the larger share of the fraction, in this case the 0.75, you can see the trouble. On the positive side, the paper offered slim hope to a third party of claiming a senator.
Senator Bradley (former Senator, Mr. Eamon Courtenay also) of late has rejoiced in the opinion that Ministers don’t really do anything, that it is Civil Servants who run the show. That when things go wrong it is Civil Servants to blame. That, of course, is not nearly true. I don’t know much about the innards of the Civil Service, having only a brief contact, an exciting two months stint as a temporary second-class clerk under Mr. Compton Hinkson at the Post Office. And, of course, I have never been a Minister. But I have seen the blueprint! Civil Servants do carry out the work. But Ministers, mercy, choose the deals, choose the political officers, and choose the contractors!
On more lawyer business, on the WUB the other day, Honorable Dean Barrow, in his capacity as lawyer, opined that be believed in the quote (I wager all lawyers do/must, by the way) from some worthy old wig that it is better a thousand criminals go free than one innocent man go to jail. I am not sure I have that quote correct to the letter, but that’s the gist of it. And it doesn’t make sense! Check it. When a thousand criminals go free, it means a thousand innocents get dang and don’t receive justice. When a thousand criminals go free it means a thousand innocents better take the law into their own hands if they want justice. Really, a thousand innocents will get dang so that one innocent man doesn’t spend a few nights in jail? No, noh mek no sense at all.
Math. People who know their arithmetic are not easily fooled. Recently a major league numbers man, Dr. Petters, seemed to be offering his services to the government. Any government should roll out the red carpet and have a Dr. Petters strut his stuff. Maybe the man is on too high a level, working with math as it applies to rocket science, but if you have that kind of grasp on numbers, you have crazy potential. God likes chemistry, but he’s first and foremost a numbers man!
Marion. I hope that Marion’s third try at marriage is the charm. That after failing twice she tries again, tells a lot about her, and her faith in that vital institution. In respect to her career, a long time ago someone told me that Marion would end up on the rocks because she was the innocent type, and that made her easy prey for unscrupulous people.
From a practical side, I suspect a lot of people would come at her for her previous two choices. But, brilliant track star and absolutely effervescent personality, noh mean that she is practical in choosing a mate. To my mind, Marion’s worst decision was to sign up to train with a coach who had been blackballed from her sport (I can’t remember his name). Why did she do that? One, she was horribly/maybe maliciously advised. And two, she thought her innocence, her purity, gave her immunity.
Clearly, Marion is one of the world’s beautiful people. Obadele (is that his name?), please take care of our girl.
(Signed)
Colin